Lover of books and book reviewer. Usually found in a comfy chair with a book.

Blog Tour Review: Come Sundown by Nora Roberts

Bodine Longbow loves to rise with the dawn. As the manager of her family’s resort in Western Montana, there just aren’t enough hours in the day – for life, for work, for loved ones. She certainly doesn’t have time for love, not even in the gorgeous shape of her childhood crush Callen Skinner, all grown up and returned to the ranch. Then again, maybe Callen can change her mind, given time…

But when a young woman’s body is discovered on resort land, everything changes. Callen falls under the suspicion of a deputy sheriff with a grudge. And for Bodine’s family, the murder is a shocking reminder of an old loss. Twenty-five years ago, Bodine’s Aunt Alice vanished, never to be heard of again. Could this new tragedy be connected to Alice’s mysterious disappearance?

As events take a dramatic and deadly turn, Bodine and Callen must race to uncover the truth -before the sun sets on their future together.

My Rating: 5/5

Review: Until this one the only books by this author that I’d read had been the ones written as J.D. Robb. Being mainly a crime fiction fan the books she writes as Nora Roberts hadn’t appealed to me until this came along and grabbed my attention and now I realise I’ve been missing out. I loved this book, from the gorgeous cover to the contents themselves. Straight from the first page I was hooked and intrigued, the story flows seamlessly and while I have little to no understanding of ranches, resorts or anything similar I understood exactly what was happening because it was written so clearly, not in a way that laid it all out, but in a way that explained it as part of the story so I could pick it up as I progressed through the book.

It felt like what I imagine being invisible or a fly on the wall would be like. Because this book is so well written I felt like I had dropped into the lives of real people, all fully developed and well-rounded with backstories and hopes and dreams for the future. It was so well done that they could have been real people and not just characters on a page. This is not a fast paced or complicated story, it’s an easy read and goes along at a steady pace but that is part of the appeal for me. The first few chapters set the scene, letting you learn about the resort and how it works, the problems they encounter and what family life is like. It’s realistic but unhurried and that gives you the opportunity to lose yourself in the story, let the rest of the world disappear and wish you really were in Montana in the snow, watching events unfold.

The disappearance of Alice is something that is ever present in the story. She is in it from the beginning with her disappearance told in flashbacks. The flashbacks are not an easy read as Alice’s experiences were not something anyone would wish for anyone but they are handled well and don’t bring the overall tone or feel of the story down. Alice’s story is also important, not least because her disappearance still impacts on the family 25 years later and is an event that has shaped the family over those 25 years.

This is an excellent book and one that makes me wish I’d read Nora Roberts earlier, particularly because there are so many of her books to catch up on now! If you’ve read her books before then I don’t think you’ll be hesitating to pick this one up but if you’re unfamiliar with her writing or, like me, only read the J.D. Robb novels I would definitely recommend giving this a try.

Author bio: Nora Roberts is the number one New York Times bestseller of more than 200 novels. With over 500 million copies of her books in print, she is indisputably one of the most celebrated and popular writers in the world. She is a Sunday Times hardback bestseller writing as both Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb.